Mishap
by SeSeesaw
Summary: Just how badly Jack can mess things up


Title: Mishap 

Author: Se/Seesaw

Pairing: Jack/Sam

Category: AU, romance, angst

Summary: Just how jack can mess everything up.

Disclaimer; I own nothing, I don't make money from any of this. MGM, Gekko Film Corp., and Double Secret Productions do. No infringement intended.

Author's Notes: Post this story under the name Se in helio by accident even though I usually write under seesaw, I'm a silly person. So for consistency sake I thought I should say something here. Ok so firstly I have to apologise because this hasn't been beta-ed, because I've no beta at the mo. Well that's not entirely true, I do have a beta but I didn't give this to her because she's a very busy lady and I didn't want to burden her, even though her work is exceptional. I really can't spell too, and I mean I really can't, it's possible that it may be a learning disorder but it's more likely that I just can't spell, so sorry about that too. Secondly I should probably say, I haven't posted anything in a while, but I have gone AU mad. Thirdly I would really like some feedback because I'm trying to decide if I should write the same story but from Sam's point of view or if I should just finish it off, or even if I should bother doing that. There's a little bit of langue and a reference or two to sex but nothing too bad, just thought I should warn you. There's bits and pieces from most season's here but nothing huge. And if I haven't entirely put you off reading this I hope you enjoy.

&-

Daniel was suppressing a smile, quite badly as it turned out.

"Just don't Daniel." Jack warned him as his face muscles twitched again.

"No point getting mad at me Jack, you've no one to blame but yourself."

Jack glared, why the hell didn't he have normal friends who would hand him a beer, slap him on the back and tell him he was better off without women.

"The man has a point Jack." Charlie chipped in, handing Jack a beer.

"I do know that, everyone telling me that isn't helping." He grumbled. "If you've nothing useful to say don't say anything at all."

Daniel snorted beside him in a failed attempt not laugh. Jack's hand froze, beer bottle mid way to his mouth and the other occupants of the room turned to the increasingly reddening man.

"Sorry, it's just... I mean..." he shrugged as a finale and Jack's hand continue with its journey.

"I do not see the problem O'Neill." Teal'c finally joined the conversation. "You had a previous relationship with Doctor Carter. Would this not make it easier to pursue her?"

"In any other case it would, T. In other cases where he didn't screw it up ..." Charlie scrunched up his face internally counting up Jack's mistakes. Daniel beat him to it.

"Three."

"Three times."

"This is my home, I can kick you out you know. I invited you over to watch hockey not discuss how useless I am with women."

Silence reigned after his comment and the four men returned to the flickering TV in the corner of Jack's living room.

Jack paid little attention to the game. Instead he scanned the faces of the men in the room, his 'friends'. At the time it had seemed sensible to invite them over, that their advice could be useful. Surely anything would be better than him on his own. It's not like he could make a bigger mess of the entire situation. But thinking it over now he could see how horribly, horribly wrong he was. I mean who was he kidding, he had asked an archaeologist, an alien and a man who had been married for over a decade and a half for advice about women. They were his team, they were SG-1, brilliant, courageous and all that but outside work was a different story completely.

Granted Daniel had women fawning over him left, right and centre but half the time he didn't really notice and when he did he was usual acutely embarrassed by the situation, much to Jack's glee. He had been married too but Jack was there for that and knew that it had nothing to do with Daniel's chat up lines and in fact it was a complete accident or faith depending on who you asked.

Charlie had married the woman he had met when he was twenty-one, which meant that his memory probably no longer stretched back to when he was single.

And of course Teal'c was an alien, with alien customs, who after 3 years of living and working on Earth still got confused sometimes over their customs.

These were not the men to ask for help in this situation. Not that he could really ask anyone else without making them sign a contract legally binding their silence. No wonder he was screwing the situation up to such horrifying proportions.

Someone had started a fight on screen; one player was practically sitting on top of another. Daniel was still rather red and making funny noises.

"O for God's sake Daniel will you just laugh already!" Jack finally broke down.

A grin engulfed Daniel's face, quickly followed by laughter.

"Are you guys actually going to give me any decent advice or just laugh at my misfortune?" he asked somewhat exasperated with the world.

"Seriously Jack just ask her out, I mean she has gotten rid of the boyfriend hasn't she." Jack never realised just how little Charlie listened to him before. It was a little worry considering the man was supposed to be his second in command.

"I told you I have already."

"So ask her again." Daniel's helpful suggestion.

"I am going to say this for the last time. I've asked her out, I've ask her out several times, it hasn't worked."

"Perhaps than you should pick another female to pursue O'Neill. It would appear that Doctor Carter does not wish to court you." Teal'c was definitely not winning in the popularity stakes at the moment.

"It's not that she said no out right T."

"It's not like she said yes either though." Ok Daniel, with THAT comment definitely ranked lower on the popularity pole than Teal'c.

Instead of replying or alternatively hitting Daniel Jack chose to ignore him.

"The first time I asked her she thought I was on about a team kind of thing and said she wasn't up to it, the second time she thought I meant as friends and asked if we could take Cassie along and the third time I asked and finally made it clear to her that I meant a..." Jack trailed off searching for the right word.

"Date." Charlie suggested.

Jack grimaced at the word, surely to God he was too old to be dating people.

"...whatever, she thought I meant as in a casual thing, like before and said no." Which meant she hadn't actually said no to a relationship, which had to mean there was some hope.

"Are you sure that she meant it like that Jack?"

"Yes Daniel." He needed another beer.

"What did she say exactly?" Charlie asked.

"You really wanted me to relive it don't you?"

Charlie nodded, Daniel grinned and Teal'c cocked his head to one side. He really should find a life outside of work where he would make nice, non-sadistic friends.

&-&

Jack tapped lightly on the open door and waited for Sam to turn towards him before entering. She grinned tiredly at him and rubbed her eyes.  
"O'Neill, anything I can do for you?"

Jack wondered when she had started to call him O'Neill, he wasn't sure if he liked it. Initially he had been Jack but he supposed that was more to do with the fact that they didn't really work together. Then there was the unpleasant Coronal/sir phase which thankfully hadn't lasted that long. And then she had went back to Jack, which he had taken as a good sign but for a while now there was this O'Neill thing. He figured it wasn't as bad as sir but not quite as good as Jack. He was sure that there was something significant to her about actually saying his name; he just wasn't all that sure what it was.

He shrugged his shoulders casually and wandered further into her workspace.

"Daniel was trying to find me, something to do with extending our next mission so we can see some kind of weird festival. I don't want to tell him no and then listen to him lecture to me for an hour about the importance of it." He sat in the stool on the opposite side of her desk and picked up a paperclip.

"Couldn't you just say yes." She suggested with a grin.

He really liked when she smiled, particularly when he was this close. Not too far away that he couldn't receive its full impact but not too close so that he couldn't see the way her entire face smiled, not just her mouth.

"Where's the fun in that?" he teased her lightly.

Her grin spread, "And what makes you think he won't come here to look for you? It's not like you're unknown to frequent the physics lab."

This was true, in fact more than one person had commented on the number of times he was found here. Or in the case of his friends, he was frequently asked if had earned his PhD in astrophysics yet. He didn't care, he wasn't going to stop coming here unless he was specifically asked not to. So far so good.

"That is true, Doctor, however it is also true that Daniel is currently terrified of you since someone heard and passed on the numerous and vicious treats you made about said archaeologist when you found out he had stolen your latest what's it."

Enlightenment graced her features along with a touch of shame.

"Who told him what I said?" she eyed him suspiciously.

He held his hands up in surrender, "I wasn't even here to hear your ladylike outburst so don't go pointing fingers."

"Yeah, well, he deserved." She defended. "He knew I wasn't finished with the thing."

"You know what Daniel's like, besides, you can just steal it back from him when we go on our next mission."

"I think I might just do that, serve him right for crossing me." She replied with an evil arch of her eyebrow.

"You busy?" he asked after a pause.

"Not really, just looking over some data. How about you, apart from avoiding Daniel of course."

"Nothing until our mission tomorrow."

She nodded and pushed herself forward to prop he elbows on the desk, bringing her that little bit closer to Jack. His nose picked up the scent of her hair, it was quite distracting.

"Does this mean that you might actually leave work at a decent hour?" he asked in what he hoped was a normal rather than forced casual voice.

She rolled her eyes at his comment, "you never know, stranger things have happened."

"Could I perhaps tempt you with dinner."

Her eyebrows rose at that and he continued on before she could misinterpret his invitation again.

"You, me, food, wine. What do say?"

He refused to look away from her, wanted he see what emotions crossed her face. Her eyes slid away from him and focused on the paperclip he was playing with in his hands. A brief, but sad smile touched her face.

"I don't think that would be the best idea." Her voice was light but Jack caught the hint of emotion beneath its surface.

"Sounds like a pretty good idea if you ask me, one of my better ones even." He probed gently.

Her eyes returned to his face and Jack was a little uncomfortable with the glint of determination in them.

"It's just that it's not really that long since I got out of my relationship with Pete and I don't think it would be a good idea for me to start up a casual relationship with you again. It's not what I'm looking for, and I'm not so sure I could do it without endangering our friendship." She let out a deep sigh.

Jack was about to tell her all that was fine since he would very much like to endanger their friendship, and wasn't adverse to a relationship at all but she started talking again.

"Besides, I'm off to the alpha site for 3 months on Thursday."

Jack's thoughts came to a sudden halt,

"Alpha site?" he repeated.

Her brow creased the way it always did when she was confused,

"I thought you would know by now. I've been asked to go to the alpha site to set up and co-ordinated their science department."

"No, no one told me." Not that anyone really would since he had nothing to do with the science side of the SGC but still.

"But Thursday's in two days." He suddenly realised, he would be off world when she left.

"Yep, hence the boxes." She raised her hand and waved it at the corner behind him.

He turned and could just about make out a small pile of boxes in the dark corner. He turned back around to face her but she was scrutinising her hands. This was not going according to plan, nothing to do with him and Samantha Carter ever went to plan.

A shadow in the doorway caught his attention. Daniel was shuffling nervously from one foot to another.

"Hey Jack, hey Sam." He gave them both a watery smile.

Sam arched an eyebrow and his foot shuffling increased, "I just wanted a quick word with Jack."

Damn, Daniel was braver than he thought.

"Fire away Daniel." The man didn't seem pleased with Sam's wording, his smile turned from watery to grimace at the vague note of a threat in it.

"I thought maybe we could talk in my lab. I have some pictures I wanted to show you and I wouldn't want to disturb Sam's work." His eyes flicked to Sam, but she was wearing her poker face.

He didn't really have an excuse not to go with him, he just didn't want to. What he did want to do was explain to Sam that he wouldn't mind if things got complicated between them in the name of a relationship, in fact that was what he was suggesting that they tentatively begin. He looked at Sam to see if she had any ideas but she didn't seem to be picking up his telepathic message about not leaving, instead she smiled at Daniel,

"Go right ahead, take anything you want Daniel, what's sharing among friends." Her voice was light and sugar sweet, but the devious twinkling in her eyes was making Daniel shuffle backwards.

"Right, yes... Thanks Sam. So Jack just." He flapped his arm in the direction of his lab and quickly disappeared.

Jack eased himself from his seat, resigned to the fact that he would not be eating dinner with Sam tonight, that he probably wouldn't actually lay eyes on her for at least 3 months and that he now had to face an hour long 'discussion' with Daniel which would no doubt end up with him agreeing with Daniel to shut him up.

"You have an evil streak a mile wide you know that."

She turned her attention back to him,

"And don't you forget it." Her smile was wide and mischievous and Jack wished very much that he could kiss her.

"Have fun at the alpha site, try not to confuse too many military men."

"I'll try my best."

"Well I better." He nodded at the door.

"Good luck." She turned back to her computer as he headed out of the lab, "and enjoy the festival."

&-&

"So if you think about it it's really your fault I never got to explain the situation to her before she disappeared off to the damn alpha site for God knows how long." Charlie handed him another beer and strategically positioned himself between Daniel and Jack.

"That's a little unfair, Jack." Daniel cried.

"Huh." Jack took a swig of beer and eyeballed Daniel.

"It's not like you didn't have time before all this to..."

"Do you really want to go there Daniel?" Jack interrupted him mid-flow.

Daniel wisely shut up.

The buzzer sounded the end of the game on the T.V. and Jack flicked the sound out, irritated by it's intrusion.

"How was it that you first came to meet Doctor Carter?" Teal'c queried.

Jack turned to the large alien sitting on his recliner making the chair seem somehow one size too small. Jack allowed himself a smile,

"General Hammond actually introduced us." He had never quite thought of it like this before and the notion of tough as nails George, as a matchmaker was amusing.

Teal'c continued to stare at Jack in a manner that Jack had learnt from working with him meant he was waiting for Jack to elaborate.

"She came over from Washington to tinker with something on base that no one else could fix and in his infinite wisdom the General choose me to show her around."

He could remember the occasion quite clearly, not because it was love at first sight or lighting bolts struck or anything but mainly because as days turned out, that one happened to be one of the most unexpected of his life. He could recall feeling slightly pissed at the entire situation. Sg-1 had just returned from a particularly tedious and arduous mission and unlike the rest of his team mates he had to rise at an ungodly hour the following day to do a meet and greet with an applied astrophysicist of all people. He figured that whoever it was must be fairly important for the General to be wheeling Jack out but apart from that he didn't know much else. He distinctly remembered thinking that if there was one good way to destroy a perfectly good day that he could otherwise be spending in bed this would be it.

That was of course before he discovered that the scientist he was escorting around the base was a leggy blond, with luminous blue eyes and the kind of smile that left you dumb struck for a moment. In fact he had perked up considerably after meeting her. And from there on the day had flown. He showed her the ins and outs of the base, managed to hang around while she fixed something on a computer in the gate room in about 40 minutes leaving the entire tech. team torn between acute embarrassment and awe.

They spent the entire day, talking and joking and flirting and unwilling to end it early Jack had found himself asking her out to dinner since she was unfamiliar to the area. He was more than a little surprised when she agreed so readily. It wasn't everyday that Jack not only found himself attracted to a scientist, and an applied astrophysicist at that, but that it appeared she reciprocated. From there the day had progress to night and Doctor Carter's cheap room in a nearby motel had gone unused that night.

She had returned to Washington the following day but every time she was called in to solve the impossible she would give Jack a call and they would ultimately end up sharing his bed. And it had been great. She was brilliant company, charming, and intelligent and with a sharp sense of humour to match his own. It was fun and easy and Jack being the short sighted kind of guy that he was never thought very hard about the situation mainly because she was living so far away.

"But it did not appear that you and Doctor Carter had a relationship when she arrived permanently at the SGC." Teal'c hit the nail on the head.

Jack grimaced again unwilling to relive his first mistake in the seemingly endless lists of things he did wrong to/at/with Sam Carter.

"Yeah well that would be because we didn't T."

"What did happen there Jack? You never did tell me." Daniel leapt at the opportunity to find out more, he was a born romantic at heart, he loved the twisted angst of Jack's whole situation. Jack on the other hand was not so sure.

His eyes found Charlie's and he saw the question in them. Charles Kawalsky was by far and away Jack's oldest friend in the group. This man had been at his wedding and his son's funeral and was the first person Jack had spoken to when he started to realise just how screwed up about Sam he was. Charlie already knew the whole story and had obviously thought to keep it to himself, a fact Jack appreciated.

"It's not really important now is it Daniel."

"You never know Jack, it might help us understand the situation better if you told us everything." Daniel was looking at him eagerly and Jack could just image him 10 years younger and being on a debating team. If he was ever at school with Daniel he's nearly sure he would have kicked his ass.

Pushing his beer bottle onto the table in front of him, he pushed the palms of his hands into his eyes.

"We'd been seeing each other on and off for about 5 months. It was all very casual because she was living in Washington. Then the last time I saw her before she made a permanent move she mention that she was offered a full time position in the SGC. Wanted to know if would be ok with me." He paused and glanced briefly around the room not wanting to voice actions he wasn't all that proud of.

"And..." Daniel prompted, eager to get the juicy details no doubt.

"I brushed it off, told her we'd talk about it later." His brow creased as he recalled his cool tone and distracted manner towards her.

Daniel was opening his mouth again to say something but Jack continued before he could butt in.

"Next time she called I didn't answer the phone."

He watched Daniel's face as it knotted into confusion for a moment before he put the man out of his misery.

"Kim answered it."

Realisation bloomed on Daniel's face quickly followed by distain.

"Ouch." Was his only comment and Jack was beyond grateful for his restraint, he knew Daniel must have been itching to say more.

"I know, not my finest hour." He conceded willingly but there wasn't much he could do about it now.

"You treated Doctor Carter with much dishonour O'Neill." Jack squirmed at the edge to Teal'c voice. Teal'c had become quite fond of Sam over time and took it upon himself to defend her honour if ever the need arose.

"It's just that she caught me off guard and it gave me a scare." That was putting it mildly.

Jack had never thought beyond the next day with Sam when she had been travelling to and from Washington. He hadn't really been in a relationship with anyone since his marriage crumbled and even thinking about it made him a little bit woozy. When Sam said she might be moving to Colorado his head had clearly given a red alert signal and Jack had pushed her away with astounding efficiency.

He didn't even stop for a moment to think about how attracted he was to her or how much he enjoyed her company. He completely ignored the fact that he looked forward to seeing her when she rung to let him know when she would be flying down next, so much so that he was a nervous ball of energy by the time he reached the airport to pick her up. And he most definitely ignored the fact that Sam hadn't even suggested that they start anything long term, all she had in fact asked was would he be ok if she was working in the same base as him before she actually accepted the job.

"Kim's that women in the bar." Daniel was obviously a step behind everyone else.

"Yeah Daniel she is."

"So when was the next time you spoke to her? Was it when all the science department were out at O'Malley for Sam's welcoming do?"

"Yep." He confirmed picking his beer bottle back up again so he would have something to play with. "Didn't even know she had moved to Colorado until than."

"Didn't you leave with Kim that night?" It was Charlie this time and Jack shot his oldest friend a 'what the hell' look but Charlie just shrugged and waited for Daniel to take over.

"Jesus Jack, talk about hammering a point home. I'm surprised Sam even talks to you at all." To be honest Jack was a bit surprised about that himself.

&-&

The geeks were out tonight, and not the usual smatter of geeks that were part of active SG teams but it looked like the entire base worth of geeks were out tonight.

Leaning over to Charlie he nodded to the largely bespectacled and rapidly getting drunk group and asked,

"Is it just me or are there an awful lot of geeks out tonight?"

Daniel threw a filthy look at Jack for using the word geek but the military men duly ignored him.

"You know now that you point it out there does seem to be a lot of them."

"This isn't one of the signs of the apocalypse, is it?"

Charlie grinned at him, "Maybe they're initiating some poor soul into their group, better not get to close in case they suck you in."

"You're right actually." Daniel spoke although neither of the men was facing him.

Charlie cocked an eyebrow at him, "You mean that any poor fool that walks passes will have their I.Q. instantly doubled and they'll contract a horrible allergy to sunlight and a social life."

He received one of Daniel's more severe scowls for that one,

"You know you guys should listen to some of the stereotypes that float around about you."

"You guys." Charlie's tone had lost its teasing edge somewhat.

"Yes. You guys, the military heads."

The beer in Charlie's throat stuck and he spluttered,

"Military hea..."

"Guys let's get back to the point alright." Jack intercepted before anyone one came to blows.

Both men turned to look at him with bemused looks on their faces.

Once again Jack nodded to the large gathering at the far side of the bar,

"The gee... scientists."

"Doctor Sam Carter arrived yesterday. I think she designed most of programs in the gate room so they're a bit excited about it."

"Sam Carter." Jack repeated, tension creeping up his back and settled in his shoulders.

"Which one is he? He must be really something to get this many of them to come out in public."

"Not really sure who SHE is, haven't been introduced yet." Daniel emphasised the she rather pointedly and Charlie shrugged in apology.

"Sor-ry, how was I supposed to know Sam was a woman?"

Jack stood up abruptly causing both Daniel and Charlie to stare.

"I'm going to get us another round." He stated rather than asked before disappearing towards the bar.

He elbowed his way through the growing crowd until he could lean against the bar and waited for the bartender to wander in his direction. Logically he knew he should have expected this, she had after all told him she was offered the job. And he knew that she would have to be mad to pass up the job, especially for a guy who didn't even have the decency to ring her. It was just another one of those things that he wouldn't let himself think about, he was getting far too good at that.

"So, you going to ignore me forever or at least say hello." A female voice spoke close to his ear.

Jack turned to find Sam Carter propped against the bar next to him handing the barman a twenty. He hadn't even noticed her ordering. Not that he was all that surprised that she got served so quickly, she was wearing jeans that made her legs go on forever and a cotton sleeveless top that subtly suggested her female figure.

"It's nice to see you again Sam." And it was, it really was.

Sam's eyes flicked to something behind him and Jack turned to follow her gaze. A curvy brunette was heading towards him with a predatory glint in her eye.

"Let me guess, that would be Kim." Jack had the decency to look shame faced.

"You know we are adults Jack, you could have just said no thanks."

Jack scratched the back of his head and tried very hard to think of something to say. In the end the best he could do was shrug,

"I'm sorry Sam, not good with the whole talking thing."

She grinned, indicating that she wasn't highly offended by him,

"I figured as much."

"Jack." Cool fingers wrapped around his hand and he turned to see that the brunette had finally managed to battle her way to him.

"Kim." He smiled briefly, uncomfortable with the entire situation.

Sam picked up 3 bottles of beer off the bar and grinned at him,

"Guess I'll see you at work sir." And then she was gone.

Jack turned back to catch a frown on Kim's face as her eyes followed Sam's back.

"Who was that?" she asked innocently.

"Just someone I work with." He brushed it aside; "Come on I'll introduce you to the guys."

Apart from that brief encounter Jack hadn't spoken to her again that night. In fact he had ended up a little worse for wear and agreeing to share a taxi with Kim. Until the next morning Jack never truly understood just how insensitive he really was.

It was actually a couple of weeks before he spoke to her again. Between meetings and missions it wasn't all that hard to avoid her. He wasn't all that well known for him to be dropping into the physics lab anyway so no one could point the finger at him and say he was being cruel. In end curiosity got the better of him and he had 'dropped' by one day to see how she was getting on. They talked and laughed like the first time they met but with maybe a little less of the flirting and from than on in he had dropped by every so often to her just to chat. It wasn't quite friendly or comfortable, probably because she insisted on calling him sir or Colonel though it grated on him.

&-&

"So how did she end up talking to you again?" Daniel asked as if he would need this piece of information in the future, as though he would ever find himself in a similar situation.

"My natural charm and charisma, obviously."

Daniel didn't look like he believed him, he couldn't blame the guy.

"You know Sam Daniel, she's not really the grudge bearing type."

"Even so Jack, there's one thing to be civil, it's a whole other thing to be friends." Charlie added.

"Can't tell you Charlie. Your guess is as good as mine, I wasn't going to complain about it."

Although that wasn't entirely true. Jack actually did remember the day when the ice finally broke between them, when it went from Jack turning up once every couple of weeks to chat to dropping by several times a week, even having lunch in her lab while she tinkered with... things.

&-&

"How long are they over due?" Charlie asked the question that was circling around Jack's head.

"It's going on ten hours now sir."

Jack hated it when teams were late, Charlie hated it almost as much, everyone just plain hated it when a team was late home. The possibilities of just what could happen to them on another planet were endless and it weighed heavily on everyone on the base. It really didn't help matters that Daniel had decided to tag along with the team that were now late, it was typical of him. He was trying to kill Jack with the powers of stress and Jack had a horrible feeling it was working.

The sudden spinning of the gate and the blaring of the alarm shattered the silence of the gate room, the room seemed to pause before everyone broke into a flurry of activity. Heavily armoured men flooded the room below them and computers blinked and winked at him.

"Receiving and IDC sir, it's Sg-7, sir."

A collective sign was released that at least they were coming back, all that remained was to find out what state they were in.

"Stand down." Jack commanded before hurrying down the stairs to greet their arrival.

In the end the gate had spewed out all 5 people who had departed through it 4 days ago and all breathing in one way or another. The 2 military personnel were suffering from a variety of cuts and bruises, the geologist who had accompanied them was been manhandle between the pair of them who muttered something about a concussion as they made their way past Jack. Daniel was standing, and in one piece although missing his glasses, covered in about six inches of mud and cradling his arm to his chest. Last but not least was Sam Carter, who was covered in even more mud than Daniel and was limping badly as she made her way slowly down the ramp.

"What the hell happened to you lot? It looks interesting, whatever it was." Jack couldn't help teasing, it was a sign that he cared, honest it was.

Daniel pushed the mud from his face and into his hair.

"There was a mudslide. There was lots of mud. Sam, Matt and I kinda got swept away..."

"Hence the tree hugger look." Charlie finished for him.

It seemed that Daniel didn't even have the energy to be annoyed. He just waved his hand and said,

"Infirmary." Before he shuffled from the room.

Sam was just reaching the bottom of the ramp as Daniel was leaving.

"Making slow progress there Sam." Charlie stated rather unhelpfully.

"If I can still move my toes, it means that my ankle isn't broken right?" she asked in a weary voice.

"It's always a good sign." Charlie supplied.

She threw him a faint and brief smile before continuing on with her limping.

"You need a hand Sam?" Jack asked worried. Sam wasn't used to off world travel and this particular mission didn't seem like an easy one by anyone's standards.

She waved off his concern, but taking his own initiative Jack stepped forward, slipping an arm around her waist and throwing hers over his shoulder. Relief flittered across her face and her gripped tightened on his shoulder. Slowly they made their way to the infirmary, the journey punctuated by Sam's sharp intakes of breath as the pain in her ankle shot through her leg.

Finally after what could have been a lifetime they reached the infirmary. Within, a group had gathered around the unconscious man and there seemed to be much light in the eye action going on. He felt Sam heave a sigh of relief and turned his head to look at her. She grinned at him, the prospect of finally getting some painkillers buoying her up.

"Thanks sir, not sure I could have made in on my own."

"Do you have to do that?" the words were out before his brain had a chance to veto them.

Jack had stopped just inside the doorway, halting Sam with him, effectively trapping her.

"Do what, thank you?" she was looking confused again.

"No, do you have to call me sir all the time." Just how irritating it was to hear a woman with whom he had spent so much personal time with calling him sir was finally exploding in him.

"Well you are my boss." She stated simply. Damn her and her logic.

"Yes, but it's not like..." he stumbled, "you're not in the military, I don't give you orders or anything. You don't actually have to call me that."

Her brow creased and the mud drying there cracked.

"What should I call you than?"

"Well Jack was working pretty fine before."

She nodded slowly, thinking hard.

"I just thought that might make you uncomfortable."

Jack marvelled at the things that must go through this woman's head. He had treated her like dirt and she was worried about making him uncomfortable. There was something wrong there.

"Jack would be good. No actually, Jack would be great."

"Sam." Janet broke in what had become, without him releasing it, a rather intimate conversation. "Are you all right?"

"Twisted ankle I think, and a free mud bath. You win some you lose some." Janet grinned at her words and gently took Sam's arm that wasn't wrapped around Jack.

Janet's attention moved to Jack and he quickly slipped away from Sam.

"Just came for trip Doc. Nothing wrong with me, except a little mud transfer from Sam." The right hand side of his body was now also mud covered, he really hadn't thought the whole 'helping Sam walk thing' through.

"I'll just let you guys get on with the clean up." He took a step back and Janet helped Sam take a step forward but paused before they got any further.

Sam turned to look at him, a serious look on her face under all the mud.

"Thank you Jack." She stated firmly and then turned before Jack could comment and continued on her journey to the nearest gurney.

&-&

And that was that, the fine line of formality that had barely existed between them was erased and they were friends. Sam and Janet accompanied SG-1 on nearly all of their team nights out, Jack would drop by on her in her lab and she would sit with him in the canteen. They laughed, they made bets and all was well in the world.

"Did you not have sufficient time prior to Doctor Carter's mission to the alpha site to tell her of your feelings O'Neill?" Teal'c ever practical asked.

Sometimes Jack wished he could live in Teal'cs world cos he sure as hell wasn't living in it at the moment. Nothing ever seemed as clear-cut to Jack as Teal'c made it sound.

"Well technically I did T."

"Well than..."

"Eh.." Jack held up his hand, "I wasn't finished yet." Jack didn't continue until he was sure Teal'c had stilled. "First of all I didn't realise I felt anything for her other than friendship and when I did finally figure it out she was seeing that Pete guy."

"It has been most clear to me that you were attracted to Doctor Carter for some time O'Neill." Now this was news to Jack!

Apparently it was news to everyone because Charlie scoffed.

"Come off it T, you're just saying that."

"What purpose would I have to lie Major Kawalsky?" Teal'c asked with eyebrow aloft.

That stumped the man.

"It was clear in your actions O'Neill that there was a physical attraction between you." Jack pondered for a while.

He couldn't bring himself to argue with Teal'c, the man usually knew his stuff. He had people watching down to a fine art, he even admitted to Jack once that the Taur'ai were far more entertaining to watch than the Jaffa. All that being said...

"Hey T, did it look like she was attracted to me?"

Teal'c remained unmoved for so long that Jack didn't think he would answer.

"Do you not know the answer to this question already O'Neill? If Doctor Carter was not attracted to you she would not have had a previous relationship with you."

"Well I knew that Teal'c but that was ages ago, I mean have you picked up anything more... recent."

"I have not O'Neill."

"Ahh crap!" O'Neill flung himself deep into his sofa. Sometimes a guy could never get a break.

"And you're sure about your feeling for Sam?" Daniel asked somewhat tentatively, "It's just that she didn't take her break up with Pete all that well and I wouldn't want to see her hurt or anything."

"Contrary to evidence I'm not a complete bastard Daniel and yes I'm sure about how I feel. Damn sure."

"You know it's got to be something big if Jack's willing to talk about it, that's for sure." Charlie added with a chuckle. A statement Jack would refute if only it wasn't true.

He was definitely sure of his feelings. They had come like a swift kick in the stomach and there was nothing he could do to rid himself of them. He wasn't the most emotionally sensitive of men, he'd admit it. He could totally deny all his desires and feelings if they didn't suit him and it usually took something fairly big for him to acknowledge all those pesky things he was so good at repressing. Something like Sam returning from one of her few off world jaunts, bloodied and half dead.

&-&

Another staff blast impacted the dull grey concrete sending a shower of dust onto the men below.

"Close the iris for Christ sake." Jack bellow as he hurried down to the gate room.

A scene of panic greeted him. Armed men were watching the gate shiftily doing their best to stay out of the way. The medics were already on the scene, swarming around the injured and shouting incomprehensible orders to one another. Why was it that when you sent a 7 strong team of scientists to a previously declared un-inhabited planet, a squad of Jaffa always showed up to check said planet out.

Jack finally found a familiar face among the masses,

"Lieutenant Bradley, what happened?"

The man in question was sitting at the end of the ramp head in hands. The face that greeted Jack when he looked up was tired and dirty but looked unscathed.

"Jaffa patrol sir. We had to fight our way to the gate. Couple of the scientists got hit. Major Burnes is hurt pretty bad."

A nurse materialised next to Bradley and began to ask him questions like a quick fire round on a game show. Jack took a step back and surveyed the damage. One gurney was already being wheeled from the room and Jack could see Major Burnes being loaded onto another. Everyone else seemed to be making it on their own two feet and considering the number of them that wasn't too bad.

"What the hell?" A dumbfounded Charlie had appeared next to him.

"Son's of bitches of Jaffa trying to take down the IQ of earth again."

"Yeah. Did they succeed?"

"Burnes is hit, not sure how bad, someone else was wheeled out as well. You can see everyone else." Charlie nodded sharply and followed Jack as he made his way to the infirmary to see just how bad the damage was.

In the infirmary the mayhem continued but now included bleeping machines and shiny metal instruments. Jack tried to understand the comings and goings of the medical staff but he was hopelessly lost and could do nothing but watch as most members of the staff and the two injured personnel disappeared to surgery where he could not follow.

"Any idea how they are?" General Hammond had appeared, a deep frown marring his brow.

Jack shrugged helplessly and both men stood silently and waited for someone to be free enough to give them some information.

Janet Fraiser appeared before them shortly fully dressed in sterile scrubs with a mask hiding her mouth.

"Sirs," she began solemnly, "Major Burnes has a badly broken leg, the bone broke through the skin which is being repaired now, apart from a concussion that we'll have to keep an eye on he should be fine. Doctor Carter is another story."

"Sam?" Jack interrupted her mid-flow.

"She was a last minute addition to the mission line up." The General summed up grimly.

"She sustained a blast wound to her lower abdomen. She lost quite a bit of blood and there's internal damage. I won't know how bad it is until we open her up." And with that the petite doctor was gone, a duty nurse trailing after her, opening the door for her as she left the men behind.

The General heaved a sigh and rubbed a hand over his head,

"Not much I can do here, keep me informed son." He nodded at Jack and departed although the man heard little of what was said to him.

In a state of something akin to shock he relayed the information to Daniel who was waiting with a number of other SGC staff and disappeared to his office before any more questions could be asked of him. Once safely behind the locked door of his office he threw himself into his seat. Dropping his head to his desk he let the avalanche of emotions fighting for dominance inside him consume him for a moment.

Sam was hurt, badly. Sam could die and then, then... what, he couldn't phantom the despair that swept through him at the thought. She couldn't die, it just was not possible.

He let himself linger on the possibility for a moment, Sam's presence erased from his life. No more long lunches under the guise of avoiding paperwork, their on-going pool championship would end, he'd never get to show her his cabin. His heart clenched tightly and a lump formed in his throat. Sam Carter could not die, he didn't have the chance to share his life with her yet, he didn't know everything there was to know about her yet.

Jack forced the lump down his throat, when had this happened. His mind scrabbled furiously looking for a moment when his feelings had changed but nothing came to mind. It didn't alter the fact that Jack wanted to share his life with Sam, he wanted to share everything with Sam, his soul, his body all that crap. He closed his eyes in complete and utter frustration. Christ he should have known better, he should know himself better than this by now.

For some time he had left something was lacking in his life, he was unable to figure out what and most of the time he had put it down to craving a food type that he couldn't put his finger on. But it was not food he was craving it was Sam Carter he was craving. He craved physical contact with her, he craved her sweet lips and soft skin. He hit his head against his desk a couple of times for good measure.

He was a stupid, stupid man. And now she might die, he waits until she's bleeding to death to figure this out. God, she couldn't die, someone else he loved could not die, it wasn't fair. Surely he had paid back his karma ten fold by now. He promised to whoever was listening, to mother earth, or God, or Allah or whatever name that you put on the power that turned the earth that if Sam Carter lived he would never hurt her again, as he knew he had, that he would make her happy for as long as he was physically capable. He would just about do anything so long as she didn't die. His emotions tumbled and turned and raged within him, despair licked the corners of his consciousness and he groaned aloud.

He spent hours just sitting there in his office, flittering through his emotions, wishing and praying and hoping and in the end it had worked. Sam Carter had indeed survived her surgery; she was weak and didn't make any kind of sense for days, too filled with pain and medication to take much of anything in. And Jack was there for it all, had sat next to her and comforted her when she whimpered in pain and watched he while she slept for the best part of week.

By week two Jack wasn't such a permanent fixture at her bedside since duty in the form of paperwork called. By then she was pretty much conscious all the time and healing nicely. She had a steady stream of visitors so that Jack felt he wasn't quite so needed. All the while though Jack was making plans for when she was released from her infirmary confinement. He would alternatively swing from deciding to take her for dinner to celebrate her recovery and suss out how she felt about a serious relationship, preferably with him or just inviting her around to his place for steak and just kiss her to see what would happen. None of these scenarios paned out though.

By the end of week 3 Sam was fully dressed and perched on the edge of her bed when Jack came to see her.

"Going somewhere Carter?" He asked.

The smile that she bestowed on him was radiant and blinding, leaving Jack mildly stunned for a moment.

"Yes." She stated adamantly eyeing Janet who was hovering near her.

Sam slid tentatively from the bed, one hand protectively cradling her side where the staff weapon had inflicted so much damage and didn't let go of the bed until she was certain her legs would hold her weight.

"On your own?" Jack asked this time slightly more worried and looking to Janet.

"Pete's coming to get me." Sam answered as if he knew what the hell she was talking about.

"Pete."

"My..." Sam faltered, "boyfriend." She finished lamely, her nosed scrunched up in distaste. "I don't like that word" she muttered as she carefully bent down to pick up her bundle of get well cards and a small teddy bear Teal'c had decided to buy her.

Jack blinked as his heart lurched dramatically. His mind once more fuzzy with unwanted emotions, Sam had a boyfriend, she had a boyfriend.

"I'm not so sure about this Sam." Worry tinged Janet's words, both women ignoring Jack and completely missing the flash of pain that crossed his features.

"I'll be fine Jan, I can't stay in this infirmary a minute longer." Sam spoke firmly and directly to Janet in a hope of banishing the doctor's fears. "Pete will take good care of me and if there's any problems I'll come back, I promise."

"You're sure Pete is up to this? You know you can't trust a man with anything important."

"He'll be fine. You totally terrified him with your twenty minute blow by blow account of every pill I have to take, what rest I need, what to eat and how my death would be on his hands if he did even one thing wrong on the phone yesterday. Honestly Janet I don't think he'll sleep for the next week for fear of you coming after him if I stub my toe." The doctor smiled ruefully at Sam.

"Come on we better get you out of here before I'm tempted to make you stay for being mean to me."

The smaller woman looped her arm through Sam's arm on her good side and took some of her friend's weight. They slowly began to make their way out of the room pausing briefly as they reached Jack.

Sam smiled again, obviously delighted with her escape.

"I'll see you in two weeks, when I get back to work." She threw the last of her sentence at Janet but the doctor could be heard to mutter, "We'll see."

Jack dredged up a smile from somewhere and watched with a heavy heart as Sam left the room and headed towards another man.

Jack turned sharply and made his way rapidly to the gym knowing Charlie would be there. He made it there in record time and found Charlie sparring with one of the marines. One look at Jack's face and the man made a lame excuse and quickly disappeared.

"She has a God damn boyfriend." He hissed at Charlie.

Charlie blinked at him.

"Sam Carter has a boyfriend."

Enlightenment dawned on Charlie's face, "Oh, you mean Pete."

"You knew about this." He pointed an excusing finger at his friend.

"Yeah I met him just before Sam got hurt. Daniel needed to borrow something off her and since his car broke down again I gave him a lift. He was there." Charlie pulled the boxing gloves from his hands and gave Jack a quizzical look. "Why?"

Jack ignored his question, "Why did no one bother to tell me this?" he demanded.

A smile twisted Charlie's mouth, "Didn't think you'd particularly want to know Jack? It's not like you've shown much interest in her personal life before." He took a swig from his water bottle and eyed his agitated friend.

"You were going to ask her out weren't you?" He quickly saw the problem. "I thought you were only friends."

"Yeah well things change." Jack pouted.

Charlie picked up his towel and slung it over his shoulder, making his way to the changing room knowing Jack would follow.

"Well I can't say that I'm that surprised she has a boyfriend. I mean she is kinda hot Jack." Jack glared at him,

"I know that, no one else is supposed to notice."

Charlie opened his locker and pulled out his shower gear, "Didn't you tell her that you didn't want a relationship."

"Doesn't really matter now if she's already going out with someone." Jack pointed out.

"But I've seen you guys together, you never showed any kind of interest except friendship."

"Come on Charlie, how long have you known me, you know how good I am at blocking out things. I didn't even know I wanted her until she decided to try and get herself killed."

"Well I hate to break it to you Jack but from what I've heard Janet say she's pretty serious about this guy." Charlie said tentatively knowing his friend would rather hear it from him in the long run.

Jack dropped onto one of the wooden benches and found himself once again groaning.

"Did I ever tell you that I have the worse luck ever."

Charlie joined him on the bench and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah I know Jack, you're bad luck has gotten me into enough trouble to know."

Jack grunted,

"So now what?" Charlie asked

Jack smiled tightly at his friend and stood,

"Nothing I guess, that's that."

Charlie nodded and added no more.

Jack had left at that and gone home and gotten very, very drunk.

&-&

Time had passed, that heart clenching pain he felt every time he saw her lessened over the weeks. He could still see her everyday, he went out of his way to make her laugh. He did what he did best and completely ignored the fact that she was dating someone else. He tried to ignore the fact that she didn't go out with the team as much any more, ignored that her mood seemed to be lifted. And every night he went home alone and slept alone. He had truly lost his appetite for one-night stands and casual sex. He longed for someone to be in the house with him. To hear someone else move around his home, to smell the gentle fragrance of girly products in the bathroom. For someone to hold him when he felt tried and old and just wanted to feel needed.

The main problem with his newfound interest in actually committing to someone was that if he couldn't have Sam he didn't want anyone.

"Why didn't you ask her out after she broke up with Pete, I mean didn't they break up ages ago." Daniel asked.

"I was... confused." Jack muttered darkly.

Daniel's brow creased with consternation so Jack elaborated, "It was right after the whole Endorra thing, and Lara."

Daniel nodded slowly,

"Plus there was the whole undercover mission, which really didn't help." Really, Jack had put up with a lot of crap this year let alone the whole Sam thing.

Actually times were looking up before he got stranded on that God forsaken planet, he even got to kiss her.

&-&

Jack was sitting in a booth at O'Malley's sipping another beer. Sam was sitting next to him doing the same. Both of them were watching Daniel and Charlie playing pool against SG-3. It was a fun rivalry that had developed between a couple of the teams. Whenever two teams had free time together they'd head down to O'Malley's and play pool. Losers buy the beers. So far SG-3 had only managed to win one game, it turned out that Teal'c had a natural ability for pool, Sam was a pro what with all the angles and velocity and stuff that pool involved. Jack had trained Daniel up when he first joined the team and after a little time and practice he was quite good.

SG-3 had grumbled more than once that Sam wasn't part of their team and therefore shouldn't be playing with them but whenever Janet was around, as she was tonight, she played with the opposition. No one complained since it turned out that she was a pool shark. Jack had a sneaking suspicion that conning suckers out of money with pool may have paid Janet's way through medical school.

He was feeling nicely numb and light headed; he probably shouldn't have another beer. Sam seemed to be in pretty much the same condition, she was giggling a lot more tonight than usual, a dead give away that she had drunk too much.

"Your friend just came in." Sam said her eyes glued to the bar door.

Jack turned to look and than quickly looked away. Sam began to move, sliding out of the booth. Jack's arm clasped her wrist and halted her in her tracks.

"Where are you going?" he hissed, keeping his back to the door.

Sam looked puzzled, before saying rather lamely, "Bathroom."

"You can't leave me?" his grip tightened.

"I thought you might want to be alone so that..."

"Crap." Jack was ignoring her, and trying to look over his shoulder without looking like he was looking over his shoulder, "She's coming this way."

"That's Kim right, I thought you and her were seeing each other."

"What?" he looked back at Sam.

"I said," her voice dripping with exasperation, while she gently tried to extract her wrist, "that I thought you and she were..."

"No." he added hastily, "well, kinda but not any more."

Sam giggled at his jumbled sentence; she definitely had too much to drink.

"Right." She said in disbelief continuing with her attempt to leave.

"Look I told her I didn't want to see her any more but now she's stalking me." That stopped her.

"Stalking you." She still didn't sound like she believed him.

"Well not exactly stalking, but any time I come in here she's all over me."

"A beautiful woman keeps hitting on you, you poor man." Damn it she so wasn't being helpful.

"It makes me uncomfortable, you have to help me."

"There's a lot that makes you uncomfortable isn't there."

"Kiss me." He stated, Kim was almost upon them now.

"Excuse me." So she didn't sound too impressed with that.

"She'll go away if she sees us kissing."

"Jack I'm not going to kiss you just because you have woman problems."

It was too late to escape; there was no way he could get by Kim without her catching,

"Please." He begged.

"Jack, I have a boyfriend, I'm not going to kiss you."

He was done with asking; instead he leaned forward and gently brushed his lips to hers. She didn't move either towards him or away from him.

"Is she still there?" He asked quietly, his eyes glued to her face.

Sam nodded, her eyes on the woman who had stopped a footway from their booth.

"Well then," He moved in again but this time he kissed her properly.

She responded, lips moving against his. His hands moved to tangle in her hair and to pull her closer. The kiss deepened and Jack was lost in the moment. Finally they came up for air, both flushed with excitement. Both were silent and unmoving for a moment.

"She's gone." Sam whispered, her breath a gale force on his lips.

"Who?" Jack didn't understand, he was too busy wondering if he could kiss her again.

"Kim's gone so you don't have to..." she flushed and didn't continue.

"Right." He replied and moved in to kiss her again.

"Sam." Janet's voice halted his progress, and Sam was on her feet before he knew it.

"We have to go." Janet was saying with Sam nodding in agreement and not meeting his eye.

Janet was giving him the evil eye and Jack was feeling wrong footed by the sudden turn about of the situation.

"Sorry about..." Sam flushed a deeper red, "Sorry O'Neill, too much to drink." And then she was gone.

Jack cursed himself, than curse Janet, than himself again, than he went home.

He only saw Sam once before he left for Endorra and she acted like the entire episode never happened. Than of course he managed to get himself stranded on another planet and by the time he got home, largely due to Sam's work, and carries out an undercover mission he was left really confused about where home was and what he felt about being on earth in general.

&-&

"Doctor Carter was most anxious when you were stranded O'Neill." Jack grinned at Teal'c words, it had to be a good sign that she had missed him when he was gone, didn't it?

"That's a good sign right?" he thought he should check.

"Well..." Daniel trailed out not quite meeting Jack's gaze.

The couch bounced as Charlie shifted uncomfortably,

"What?" Jack demanded.

"Well," Daniel tried again, "that was before she found out you were sleeping with Lara."

"Once, I slept with her once." Jack was quick to point out.

"It didn't help that she heard you tell Lara you didn't want to go home." Charlie added not meeting Jack's eyes.

"She wasn't supposed to hear that." Jack grumbled, the whole experience was a disaster if you asked him.

"On the plus side, I think she forgave you for the whole under cover, insulting her thing." Daniel tried to lighten the mood.

"What did you say to her by the way?" Charlie asked. Jack usually told him everything, the fact that he kept this encounter to himself couldn't be a good sign.

"Something about getting on with her life and to stopping pining after what she couldn't have like a love sick teenager."

The only sound in the room was Charlie's sharp intake and Jack's fingers tapping against the glass of his bottle.

Ok so this evening was actually making the whole situation seem worse, it was time to put it to an end.

"Aright I think it's time for you to go." He stated into the silence in a tone of voice that broached no argument.

"Indeed." Teal'c was the first on his feet.

"Yeah I have to do a whole research thing tomorrow." Daniel agreed. "Sorry we weren't all that useful Jack."

Jack shook it off and led everyone to his front door. Daniel and Teal'c headed straight to the car but Charlie lingered.

"So what are you going to do Jack?"

"I have no idea Charlie."

"What time is she coming back at?" the engine of the car roaring into life behind them.

"16 hundred. You think I have any chance with his woman Charlie or am I just making a fool of myself." Jack was feeling defeated but he knew his friend wouldn't sugar coat his words.

"I've known you a long time Jack. I saw the hell you went through when you lost your family. I saw you try to shallow your pain and block the world out. If you ask me Jack, with all the crap we've been through, and all the crap we're put through on a daily basis you deserve to be happy. If you think this woman can make you happy who gives a damn if you make a fool of yourself."

Jack shuffled in his doorway, uncomfortable with conversations on any deep level even if it was his close friend and Charlie seemed to be feeling the same.

"Thanks, Charlie."

Charlie turned away to the waiting car and shrugged off the moment.

"I'll see you tomorrow Jack." He climbed into the backseat of the car and Jack stood in the doorway until he lost of it.

Slowly he closed the door, and began his nightly routine. He moved automatically focusing on his actions to avoid thinking about anything else until he found himself lying on his back in bed, staring up at the ceiling. He reflected on his feelings over the past year. About how Sam had wormed her way into his life unnoticed, how he felt when he saw her, how the thoughts of her with another man tore at his heart. What he felt for her was all consuming and he had a horrible feeling that it would be a bitter and painful battle to rid or bury these feelings. And he didn't want to, he wanted to love and be loved again. He wanted to be part of something, something with Sam, a something he thought he was long past. The only problem was Sam and how she would take all this.

She was coming home tomorrow, after 3 long, lonely months she would be back on earth. Jack was not a coward, he wouldn't lose the opportunity of being with Sam. The decision would ultimately be hers and there in lay the problem. He had hurt and failed her more than once. She might have moved on, she might not want to take a chance with a man who failed her so spectacularly, it's not like she didn't have other options.

Jack rolled onto his side and tired closing his eyes. At least by this time tomorrow it would all be over, one way or another he would know. Even if he didn't want to.

&-&


End file.
